Guided Tour

The Stirling Castle Guided Tour is a great introduction to the royal buildings as well as some of the castle’s more infamous and colourful characters.

The Great Hall

James IV’s Great Hall, the largest ever built in Scotland, was complete in 1503 as a splendid venue for courtly celebrations and occasions of state.

Chapel Royal

The Chapel Royal was built by James VI in 1594 for the baptism of his son Henry. An elaborate frieze added for Charles I in late 1620s still survives.

Tapestry Exhibition

Visit the former Tapestry Studio and see our Weaving the Unicorn exhibition which charts the story of the Stirling Tapestry project, the biggest undertaken in the UK in over 100 years and part of the Palace Project to return the interiors of the Royal Palace of James V to how they may have looked in the 1540s.

Argyll's Lodging

Open daily from 1pm-4pm, this 17th century town house on the approach to the castle gives visitors an insight in to Archibald Campbell, the 9th Earl of Argyll and his family. Included in castle admission.

Membership

Castle Secrets

It is widely rumoured that James V would swap his riches for rags and sneak out of the castle to the old town of Stirling where he would mingle with his subjects posing as the guid man of Ballengeigh.

Castle Secrets

Secret binary code was discovered on one of the Stirling Heads that turned out to be musical notes to a long lost requiem from the 16th Century. Visitors can hear the music in the royal palace today.

Castle Secrets

The phrase “pushing the boat out” is thought to have been coined in relation to the extravagant celebrations held at the castle for Prince Henry’s baptism in 1594 when a full-size boat featuring live mermaids and shooting cannons was used to serve the fish course.

Castle Secrets

Nine skeletons dating from 1200-1400s were unearthed in a long-lost royal chapel in 2008. It is thought they must have been people of stature to have been buried within the castle. Visitors can come face to face with 2 of the skeletons in the castle exhibition.

Castle Secrets

Research carried out in 2011 revealed that King Arthur’s round table may well have been hidden beneath the historic King’s Knot that sits below the castle. Writers including John Barbour and Sir David Lindsay have linked the landmark to the legend of King Arthur for more than six centuries.